Village Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody good? Good evening. This is the Village Council regular public meeting. The date is August 12, 2026. The time is 7.30. Excuse me. Thank you. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News. The record by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of the schedule, including the date and time of this meeting. Notice of this meeting was also posted on the Village of Bridgewood's legal notices page. Roll call.

Council Member Mortimer.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Perrin. Here. Council Member Weitz.

Here.

Council Member Winograd. Here. Mayor Valdez-Yanos.

Here. Will you all please join us in a salute to our flag?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice

I move the bills, claims, and vouchers and statement of funds on hand as of July 31st, 2026, be accepted as submitted. I second.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin. Yes. White. Yes. Winograd. Yes. Baggianas.

Yes. I move that the village council minutes of June 3rd, June 8th, 2026, having been reviewed by the village council and now available in the village clerk's office, be approved as submitted. I second.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin. Yes. White.

Yes.

Winograd. Yes. And Vaggianos.

Yes. We have several proclamations tonight. Siobhan, would you like to kick it off?

Sure. Whereas ovarian cancer is called the silent killer because its symptoms are often vague or subtle, making ovarian cancer a leading cause of cancer death amongst women and the leading cause of gynecological cancer deaths in the United States. And whereas approximately 21,000 women in the United States are expected to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2026, and about 12,450 deaths were estimated for 2026. And whereas the Kaleidoscope of Hope Foundation, KOH, a local nonprofit group founded by Gail McNeil of Chatham Township, who was inspired by your own experiences, raises funds for ovarian cancer research and increases awareness of the disease and its symptoms, and wishes to remind the public that September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and Whereas, the theme for the 2026 aligns with the World Cancer Day's, quote, united by unique, emphasizing personalized care and the unique experiences of each patient. Whereas, since there is no early detection test for ovarian cancer, it is very critical to promote awareness of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, fighting the disease and supporting all women who bravely carry on the fight. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the village council of the village of Ridgewood calls upon citizens to raise ovarian cancer awareness, which will help Americans live longer, healthier lives, and hereby proclaims September 2026 as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, as we rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of new and better ways to prevent, detect, and treat this devastating disease.

Thank you, Siobhan. And let's move on.

Evan, you want to take the next one? Absolutely. So whereas national preparedness month creates an important opportunity for every resident of the village of Ridgewood to prepare their homes, businesses, schools, institutions of higher learning, houses of worship, and community-based organizations for any type of emergency, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. And whereas investing in preparedness can reduce fatalities and economic devastation in our communities and in our nation, whether the emergency is large-scale or smaller local event. Whereas National Preparedness Month, observed every September, is part of a governmental effort bringing together federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, private, and volunteer agencies to increase public preparedness activities and educate individuals on how to take action. And whereas emergency preparedness is a personal responsibility and every resident of the village of Ridgewood is urged to make preparedness a priority. Whereas key preparedness activities include creating emergency plans tailored to individual needs and risk. utilizing resources available through the Ready Campaign, which provides tools and information to promote preparedness, and engaging in community initiatives to enhance overall resilience against disasters. Whereas local disaster preparedness response and recovery requires the efforts of the entire village, now therefore be it resolved that the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, hereby does proclaim September 2026 as National Preparedness Month and encourages all residents and businesses to prepare now for future emergencies and to work together to create a better prepared community for all.

Thanks, Evan. Frank, want to wrap it up? Whereas September is known around the United States as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and is intended to help promote awareness surrounding each of the suicide prevention resources available to us and our community, and whereas suicidal thoughts can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, income level, religion, and background, and whereas suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States the second leading cause of death among individuals between 10 and 34, and the third leading cause of death among teens and young adults 15 to 19, with 48,824 people dying by suicide in the United States in 2024 alone, nearly one death every 11 minutes, a toll that remains near historic highs, And whereas the Village of Ridgewood, New Jersey is no different than any other community in the country, but chooses to publicly state and place our full support behind local educators, mental health professionals, athletic coaches, scout leaders, police officers, and parents, as partners in supporting our community in simply being available to one another. And whereas local organizations such as Suicide Prevention Services and the national organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness are on the front lines of breaking the stigma that still surrounds suicide and mental illness, and whereas the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood encourages all residents to take the time to inquire as to the well-being of their family, friends, and neighbors over the next few days and genuinely convey their appreciation for their existence by any gesture they deem appropriate. A simple phone call, message, handshake, or hug can go a long way towards helping someone realize that suicide is not the answer. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood does hereby proclaim September 2026 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the Village of Ridgewood and ask our residents to open minds, save lives, and restore hope through prevention, intervention, through the use of education, advocacy, and collaboration. Thank you, Frank.

Very momentous proclamation. And let's move on Let's go to public comment.

Each person is limited to three minutes.

Good evening. Bill Corcoran, 522 North Maple Ave, apartment A2.

Just check to be sure that the microphone is on.

It's on. It's on. I can tell. Do you hear me? Yes. Welcome, Chief. Nice to have you back.

Thank you. Nice to be back. Are we in trouble? I basically built this here, but it looks good. Anyway, Village Manager, Council, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Council, Madam Clerk. Madam. Good evening.

Madam.

This parking ordinance for seniors, or actually the resolution for the discounted parking, I think it's a wonderful idea. I wish I had it, it's genius. Okay, and as we all know, as the day is, you know, CBD area, like the schools, you know, we need to keep Ridgewood the town it is, all right? And I've been in this town, some of you don't know me, for over 70 years. Okay, and we eat in the restaurants, My wife had her nails done today in town, and it's still a beautiful place. Now, I also live in Florida during the winter months. We're here about five, six months, you know, depending on the grandkids and the kids who both live in Ridgewood. And we go to Graydon, I have a Graydon badge. I use the Ridgewood library, I have a library card. And I came here, I guess, July 2nd to get senior parking permit. And the lady nicely asked me for my license. I handed her my license. And she says, oh, you're not eligible for it. And I'm thinking, you know, 70 years here. I support the town. How am I not eligible? And I asked her, and she said, because you don't have a New Jersey license. And... I would like to respectfully ask you to take a look at that. If you think about it, if I'm in this town for five months and paying for 12, it's a good business deal for the village of Ridgewood. That being said, that's basically, you know, hopefully you'll take a look at it. And, you know, like I said, we pay taxes, we pay everything else here. We just don't have their license. And besides that, great seeing everybody. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Chief.

Good evening, Michael Ngo, Ridgewood resident. I'm just wondering if you could give me some type of estimate of what the Performing Arts Council will have to contribute to the movie theater project, number one. And number two, what is the contingency plan in case the Performing Arts Council is unable to raise the amount of money that they need? My second question is, I know the mayor mentioned that we're hiring all of the experts who applied for the grant in Westfield. I'm just curious how much that costs. Thank you.

I'm sorry, what was your last question, Michael?

The last question was we're hiring all these experts from Westfield to help us apply for the grant to get them 75 million or whatever it is. And I'm just wondering how much the cost of all of these experts who will help us get this grant is. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. Good evening, Denise Lima, Ridgewood resident. Just a few topics. First, the ovarian cancer awareness, thank you very much. This is 13 years for me for being cancer free. All good things. There is a marker, marker number 125. that people can start taking now. It's part of your blood test. And you will see over the time, if it starts spiking, that there's an indication that you have ovarian cancer. So there is a marker. I think it's an extra $200. It's nothing. I don't know why it's just not part of your insurance, but you might have to ask for it.

The bond ordinance 4114, I'm still confused whether... Denise, we're getting a little feedback in here, so if you could speak a little more slowly, because again, and I've already alerted Dylan to this, because it's hard to hear. It's not you, it's that, but if you could speak a little more slowly, that would be great.

Sure. Bond ordinance 4114, which is about the theater, again, I've asked this before, is the foundation buying the theater and we're just bridging, you know, until they get the grant? But the way that this is worded, it seems that Ridgewood is actually buying it. So clarification on that would be great. Maple left pavement, beautiful, it's great. At the corner of Maple, making the right onto Linwood, there's no longer an arrow there for a right-hand turn. So what's happening is everybody is thinking it's two lanes to go straight. and everybody's honking, beeping, so I sent in a request into the downtown about will the county be putting the arrow to the right back in, and I just want clarification, because I was instructed to call the county. Is that something really Ridgewood should be doing, or should I be calling the county on that? Amendment 4121 about solicitations and canvassers, does that include Ridgewood High School, like Girl Scouts, we're selling stuff, elections people are getting signatures, maybe if there's a definition of what's included and what's not would be super helpful. There's an ordinance for Maroon Soccer Club, and the last thing that I saw was that they were requesting flags and banners to be put on the fence at Shedler, which seems a little hokey, I guess, to me. I don't know that we do that anywhere else. And something about waiving fees in perpetuity, which, again, I could see a two-year, four-year term with maybe some cap, and then reviewing their request again. There is an amendment about the utilization of commercial equipment on federal holidays, and could we put something in there if it stipulates for both commercial and residential? Because it's a noise pollution issue, so it should be whether you're commercial or residential, on those federal holidays, people shouldn't be using the equipment. That's it, thank you.

Thank you, Denise. Anybody else? Seeing no one, and no one on hybrid access, I'm going to close public comment. I'm going to address a couple of these things. Bill, the senior parking permit, this is a pilot program. We're just starting now. And this is certainly an excellent question. And you raise a good point. Your bride is not eligible, but you clearly are. So we will be looking at that and taking that into account when we look at this next year. OK? Because we're finishing up. We started mid-year. See how it goes. We're also cautiously optimistic that this thing is going to go well. Let's see. And Michael? The Ridgewood Arts Foundation, how much How much will they have to kick in? The architect's estimates on the cost of rebuilding the theater is an eye-opening $90 million, which is just beyond what we ever thought it would be. The maximum amount of the grant under the program is $75 million, which works out kind of OK, because you can only get 80% from the EDA. Everyone who applies for this grant must raise the balance of 20%. So the RAF must raise that money. I cannot see that they won't be able to raise it. They'll have $75 million towards it. And this is the same hill that every Everyone receiving this grant has to climb. So is it possible? It is certainly possible. But that will be the RAF's issue. The consultants, the consultants were a little over $300,000, all raised from private funds, no taxpayer dollars. And to keep with that theme, Denise, you asked, And I know you texted me earlier today, and I could just about read that when I saw it. But yes, the Ridgewood Arts Foundation is purchasing. If this all goes the way it is hoped and we get the grant, it is the Ridgewood Arts Foundation that is applying for the grant and will have the money to buy it. They will be buying it. And we have an assignment agreement with them that right now we have a purchase option to buy it. that if they get the grant, we assign the option to them. The village will not be buying the theater.

And let's see. And actually, Paul, if I could just comment. By all means. If I could just book on top of that. I like to think all five of us are somewhat entertaining, but we're not getting into the theater business. Um, to be very clear, this whole deal was structured so that we don't own the property and we don't take it off the tax rolls until we know that it can be reused as a, as a theater. Um, that was the whole point of doing, um, of buying a, an option to buy as opposed to buying it and letting it sit there fallow. And then we take the responsibility for insurance and so on. So this whole deal was set up so that we're not buying it. So I want to be really clear on this cause I know it's complicated and I think there's been some misinformation about there about this. All we're doing is buying an option that if the Ridgewood Arts Foundation gets the $75 million grant, the Ridgewood Arts Foundation, not the people of Ridgewood, get to buy the theater and then get to raise $15 million additional to restore the theater to what we hopefully believe and think will be just an absolute gem, not just for Ridgewood, but all of Bergen County. But again, I want to repeat this. We're not getting into the theater business. We're not buying a theater. We're merely making it possible for the theater to remain vacant and stay a theater and not go to another use while the Richard Arts Foundation is applying for that $75 million grant.

The five of us are still planning on doing our song and dance, right? I don't think people are going to show up. We will be appearing on Tuesdays, Matt Days only.

I will say, and again, I said this last week, the idea about ensuring that the village does not own a theater that would become a problem for us was Evans to enter into the option that is contingent upon getting the grant. So that's where that came from, and that's how it's structured. And so I will turn the rest of the questions.

I have a couple.

Oh, excuse me.

So I want to say thank you for coming. And I love the idea of expanding the parking pass to like a snowbird aspect. We had this at the Jersey Shore where certain Jersey Shore towns weren't letting summer people having the resident rate. But to your point, they pay property taxes and they burden the system less. I'd love to hear what you would feel comfortable with providing, whether it's utility bill or what kind of paper would make that process easy. So if you want to. Email us. That'd be great. I also want to just say thank you to the seniors in general. We've sold 112 to date, which is a big deal.

140. 140 as of today.

Oh, my God. That's even more this week. Last number. So is that all this week, the incremental?

The postcards hit, which I'll address in a minute.

Okay. So as of Monday, we had 112. That's progress. Denise, I want to say congratulations on your anniversary and also echo, please get tested or remind people to get tested. With respect to Maple Lab, that is a county road. So if people have inquiries and they want an immediate response, the striping and all of that, Richard's responsibility ends at the curb. That's why we did the cutouts. That's why you saw so much work on the curb before the paving. But they would be the most immediate in terms of striping. With respect to the door knock program, we did have a discussion about the groups that were exempted and things that you referenced like Girl Scouts or the high school. They're all in there detailed as an exemption. And again, just because the general public also now that this has been introduced, thanks to Heather, you can read this ordinance online in big, bold print. With respect to the noise ordinance in private property owners, we're hesitant to place restrictions on homeowners like that because a lot of them are only able to do the work when they're available to do the work. So the exemptions are placed on the commercial, plus commercial landscapers tend to have louder equipment because it's more industrial. And with respect to the maroon soccer donation, which we'll be discussing later and we're incredibly grateful for, many of our other fields have signage, scoreboards with their names, goal posts, things like that. So we're just very grateful and I think it's wonderful that they're offsetting it. I think that answers all of the questions. If we missed anything, please reach out to us and let us know. And again, if you're comfortable, just let us know what you'd be like. I don't want to be like DMV, but what would probably be the easiest thing for somebody to provide to us? I'd welcome that information.

Yeah, and I too, I like the idea when we look at redoing this next year, potentially looking for folks who are snowbirds or who have homes in Ridgewood. So I think it's really something we should look at, and I appreciate the gentleman raising the point. Denise, thank you, by the way. First of all, congratulations on being cancer-free. And also, it was nice to spend an hour with you on Saturday. I appreciated all the comments that you had. I do just want to reiterate one point that Siobhan brought up, because I know this was something I talked a lot about at the last meeting on the solicitation piece. We were very careful to have a First Amendment carve-out and a non-commercial carve-out, so it will not prevent political activity some religious activity, obviously people, you know, Girl Scouts, things like that, because those are charities. What it will prevent is somebody trying to sell you windows. And that was the whole point, and we probably should have been a little clearer on it, because I know I talked with one gentleman after the meeting last week about that, but We had a pretty robust discussion on adding that point. And finally, I do agree with Siobhan as well on the power tools piece. At the end of the day, if a homeowner wants to use a power tool, that to me is different from contractors coming in and especially with large building. And listen, if somebody who works a nine to five, five days a week, the only time they can mow their lawn is on a Saturday. I'm not going to, I think enforcing that's going to be a disaster. What we want to make sure is that we don't have big commercial companies coming in and doing things early in the morning. And I think that the statute, as the ordinance is drafted, strikes that balance. So that was something that we also thought about and discussed in the past. But I think that's where we came out on that.

Anybody else?

Mayor, to Ms. Lima, I did reach out after your email the other day to Chief Lyons, and he's looking into that, the turn lanes on Maple and Litwood.

Everybody good? Keith, manager's report.

Thank you, Mayor. First, I just want to let everyone know that we are having a glitch with Verizon Vios tonight. Something on their end is precluding us from being able to broadcast out. So if anyone has folks who are trying to watch tonight's meeting, we are on YouTube, we are on Swagit, we are on Zoom, but Verizon Vios is not broadcasting tonight. Secondly, I want to just discuss the sanitation truck fire that occurred this morning. This seems to be a reoccurring issue that we're experiencing when our sanitation trucks are out collecting garbage throughout the village. I just want to, again, stress to folks, please be very conscious of what you're putting in your waste stream. Lithium batteries, any other type of flammable materials, when you put those into the waste stream, you are putting our sanitation employees specifically in jeopardy. This is the third or fourth incident like this that we've had during my tenure here. And our sanitation workers then have to logistically try to get to a space like Graydon Pool parking lot in order for the fire department to respond. So we're just asking people to be really aware of what they're putting into the waste stream. I do want to call everyone's attention to the recently published Ridgewood Library Strategic Plan for 2026. And I want to commend the Library Board of Trustees, along with Laurie Steinbacher, our librarian at the Ridgewood Public Library. I had an opportunity to be part of multiple sessions that were held over at the library, putting this strategic plan together. And I have to tell you, this is an outstanding document. it sets the plan for the future at the Ridgewood public library from a space standpoint, from a programming standpoint. Um, and it really takes in a lot of input from many of the stakeholders in the Ridgewood community. So it is posted on the library website and I would encourage residents to take a look at this, um, as it was a really good plan for the future over at our public library. Um, as was mentioned tonight, uh, we are still selling senior parking permits. This postcard went out to those residents who are eligible this past week. That's what upped our numbers from just over 100 to 140 as of this afternoon. So we encourage seniors to come in, take part of this program, get the prorated rate for the rest of this calendar year, and then next year it will be $75 for the full 12 months of 2027 should the council renew the program in December or January. So looking forward to that. I did want to talk a little bit about grants tonight. We have our quarterly report from Millennium Strategies, who is our grant writer. And for the first half of the year, we have been able to secure $2.5 million in grant awards. And the better news, if there is better news, is we have $5.6 million out there right now in pending applications. And I just want to stress, That, school boards are gonna see it worse next year than they did this year. But a 36.5% increase across the board on the state health benefits plan was an impossible problem to tackle. And this is not something that is exclusive to Ridgewood. You look at other municipalities in our area, I've seen tax increases in some municipalities that surround us as large as 12% this year. And you don't like to compare yourself to other municipalities, but this was This was an epidemic when it came to budgets this year, and it all went back to the healthcare costs that were significant and faced every local government agency in New Jersey.

So on slide two, worth a footnote that in 2022, the COVID relief was $2.6 million, which had a federal cap not to be used. It could be used in one year, but that year where I believe Paul was on the council was one gulp of $2.6, which burdened. 2023. So maybe we could put a footnote that the same thing on the school side, you'll see the ESSER funds. So basically the difference between 2022 and 2023 is that that was my first year in the council. We didn't have a softer blow of $1.3 million and the year before took all 2.6 in one year. So if we could do that, I'd also love to see this, you know, go out on the website, but perhaps broken down on social and if we can include it in the newsletter and You guys are good with that?

Absolutely.

Okay. And you agree about the footnote, Evan? 100%.

No, it's a really good point, Siobhan, that you raised.

Because we don't really get federal relief here in Ridgewood. And in 2022, the numbers were significantly lower. And I don't have the law in front of me, but other municipalities kept their COVID and did different things for it in different buckets. And in 2022, all 2.6 went in one year, which was not being critical, just a little rare.

That was recommended by the League of Municipalities. Right.

Keith, you mentioned that there was a municipality that was 12%, and I don't remember the numbers, but could you name some of the towns around us?

You know what, I did bring that list with me, Mayor. But I can tell you that some of our colleagues, both in Bergen and Passaic County, have seen anywhere from where we are all the way up to 12%.

I remember that some of the towns contiguous to us were 7, 8, 9%. Correct. Which, look, nobody's happy with a 3.92%. Until you look at some of these other towns and then you're going, all right, this wasn't great, but it was not so bad. It really wasn't. Again, these are all towns that surround us.

And listen, inflation that year was almost 3.5%. I mean, so we're paying more for gas the way everybody else is. We have to give raises to our statually obligated car parts. All sorts of other things we have to also go up by the rate of inflation. And again, that to me is why I'm so proud of the fact that we're roughly at half a point each year within the rate of inflation, which again speaks to the fiscal responsibility.

I have one more question. Where are we with the rollout to the difference cards to the remaining, like the library and that? Are we feeling more optimistic about that?

The difference card is meeting not only with the employees from the public library, but also the employees from central dispatch. So both of those meetings are set to occur. As a matter of fact, I asked Lori if I could attend the meeting at the library only because I want to share the positive experience that our employees have had here with the difference card. And we are also, I've met with the police union and the fire union. We are going to collectively as a municipality and the collective bargaining units that represent both of those sets of employees, we are gonna begin to seriously lobby for the Difference Card to be able to be extended to retirees. And that's especially important with the police because the police can retire younger and there's a bigger gap between the retirement date and the date that they're eligible for Social Security So we're paying for a full health benefit plan during those years, pre-Social Security and pre-Medicare. So what we want to do is we want to be able to lobby the state to allow those retirees to take advantage of the difference card just the way our active employees do.

Anybody else on this?

All right.

Let's go.

Thank you, sir.

Are you all done with your report?

I do have a couple of announcements, if I may. First, two-day a week, Irrigation is still in effect. Odd numbered addresses for irrigation are Tuesday and Saturday and even numbered addresses for irrigation are Wednesday and Sunday. Our senior bus has expanded their hours. Hours now are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. If anyone would like to ride the senior bus and need to make a reservation, please call Beth in the manager's office. The Ridgewood Guilds continues their music throughout the Central Business District on Friday nights through Labor Day. Graydon Pool is open from 11 to 7 Enjoy the rest of the season at reduced rates, $75 for adult badges, $70 for badges for children. Saturday, August 22nd, will be luau night at Graydon from 3 to 7. You do not need to be a pool member to attend that event. The chamber continues their farmer's market on Sundays through November 1st from 8.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the train station on the west side. The health department will be hosting a free blood pressure check Day on Friday, August 21st at Village Hall, right out here in the fourth floor caucus room. No appointment is necessary. Music in the Park is taking place on Saturday evenings at Venice Square. The concert on August 22nd is Mary's Basement, and on August 29th is Acoustic Dudes. Movies in the Park continues, sponsored by the Ridgewood Guild. Next movie is Wednesday, August 19th. It's Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. They start at 8 p.m. at Venice Square. Final two concerts for the Cashaw Shell are happening the next two Thursday evenings. The Dad's Night Band will perform on August 13th and Paper Jam on August 20th. Upcoming village council meetings for September. September 2nd is a work session. September 9th is a public meeting. September 23rd is a work session. All begin at 7.30 p.m. And that concludes my report, Mayor.

Thanks, Keith. Let's go to our council reports. Frank? Paul? I'm done. Try and not be so wordy, will you please? Siobhan, any chance you're just going to say Paul? No. I didn't think so.

I just have a short update because we met last week. I just wanted to give people some information regarding our existing ROID grant, which has gone through Parks and Rec and benefits access. As many of you know, we have an access committee and adults with disabilities have been saying there's six people attended. That's pretty big time. We also hosted our first sensory family bowling, which was held in July, and had the full 16 participants. And then this last Saturday, we hosted the second sensory-friendly movie, The Minions, which was wonderful, and had 76 people registered. Of highlight, this last event drew from all locations. We broke it down by residents and non-residents, and it's clear that Ridgewood and the access community is becoming a magnet for these socialization events. I want to thank our Parks Department, Katie, Access, and some of our community partners who are going to be hopefully spending the next $20,000 when we get that grant in October. I'm manifesting. And that's it.

That's the equivalent of Frank's poll.

Evan? I, too, will be quick, although quicker than Siobhan. Historical Preservation Committee met earlier in the week. You know, I think we had four applications working on some Proposals bring to the council. Just want to thank all the members of the HBCU. Do just a wonderful job protecting the character of the village. And then, as Keith mentioned, last two concerts for Cashel, which is one of my committees. Dad's Night is tomorrow night, and then Paper Jam a week from Thursday. And then they are done for the season.

Great.

Thanks, Ed.

Pam.

None of my committees met since our last meeting except for the Ridgewood Business Alliance, which is our district management corporation for the Special Improvement District. And we welcomed our new marketing director, Corinne Mahoney. We also are amending our bylaws. And we discussed holiday decor and also various local magazine outlets. And that's all I have.

Great. Thanks, Pam. So let's go to our public hearings. I move the clerk read Ordinance 4105 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. I second.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. White?

Yes.

Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of Ordinance 4105?

a bond ordinance providing for various water utility improvements in and by the village of Ridgewood in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, appropriating $728,000 therefor and authorizing the issuance of $691,000 bonds or notes of the village to finance part of the cost thereof.

The public hearing is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second that.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. Weitz. Yes. Winograd.

Yes.

And Vaggianos.

Yes.

I move that ordinance 4105 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

I second the motion.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. Weitz. Yes. Winograd. Yes. And Vaggianos.

Yes.

The following resolutions numbered 26-231 to 26-235 will be considered on a consent agenda with one vote by the village council. THEY WILL BE READ BY TITLE ONLY. TITLE 59 APPROVAL, COLD WATER METERS AND ACCESSORIES. AWARD CONTRACT, COLD WATER METERS AND ACCESSORIES. AWARD CONTRACT, 2026 ROAD IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM WITH WYCOFF. AWARD PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT, IMPLEMENTATION OF RIGID WATERS LED SERVICE LINE REPLACEMENTS PHASE 2. RESCIND AND REPLACE RESOLUTION NUMBER 26-193. 2026 Water Main Replacement, Glen Avenue. May I have this motion?

So moved. Second.

Mortimer?

Happily, yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos? Yes.

I move the first reading of Ordinance 4111. I second the motion.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4111 by title?

An ordinance who met section... I'm sorry, an ordinance to amend Chapter 190 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood Land Use and Development to permit shared parking arrangements for institutional uses subject to certain requirements.

I move that Ordinance 4111 be adopted on the first reading and that September 2nd, 2026 be set as the date for the hearing thereon.

I second the motion.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Herron?

Yes. White?

Yes.

Wundergrad? Yes. Baggianos?

Yes. I move the first reading of Ordinance 4112

Second?

Second?

Second. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4112 by title.

An ordinance to amend Chapter 265 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood, Vehicles and Traffic, at Section 265-22, no stopping or standing certain hours, and Section 265-68, Schedule... 18, no stopping or standing certain hours.

I second the motion.

I move that Ordinance 4112 be adopted on the first reading and that September 2nd, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing on.

I'm awake and now I'll second the motion.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. White? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. I move the first reading of Ordinance 4113. I second that.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. Weitz?

Yes.

Windergrad? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4113 by title?

An ordinance to amend Chapter 265 of the Code of the Village of Redwood, Vehicles and Traffic at Section 265-9, Prohibited Turns at Intersections, and Section 265-56, Schedule 6, Prohibited Turns at Intersections.

I move that ordinance 4113 be adopted on the first reading and that the September 2nd, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.

As a BF parent, I second the motion.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4114. I second.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Yes.

Yes, so ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4114 by title.

A supplemental bond ordinance providing for a purchase option for the acquisition of a movie theater in and by the village of Ridgewood in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, appropriating $375,000 therefor and authorizing the issuance of $356,250 bonds or notes of the village to finance part of the cost thereof.

I move that ordinance 4114 be adopted on the first reading and that September 2nd, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.

I second the motion.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin. Yes. Weitz. Yes. Winograd. Yes. And Vaggianos.

Yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4115. I second. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes.

Yes. White. Yes. Winograd. Yes. Vagianos.

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4.1.1.5 by title.

An ordinance to amend chapter 247 of the code of the village of Bridgewood entitled special improvement district. At section 247-3 entitled creation of the district. At subsection A, B, C and creation of new subsections D entitled change in classification and E entitled primary residence mixed use. And at Section 274-4, entitled Assessments. And at Section 247-5A17, entitled The Designated District Management Corporation. And at Section 247-6C, entitled Municipal Powers Retained. And at Section 247-7B, entitled Fiscal Year and Annual Budget. And at Section 247-8C, entitled Fiscal Requirements Annual Reports Audit.

and at section 13 entitled effective date and at schedule A. I move that ordinance 4115 be adopted on the first reading and that September 2nd, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing.

I second the motion. Mortimer? I'd just like to say that I'm really, really happy with how these changes have turned out. I think it's going to be better for the village. I think it's going to be better for all the businesses and I'd like to thank Matt Rogers for helping clean this up. Matt, it was a lot of work to take all the input and to make it so streamlined and with that I will say, heck yes.

Before I vote, I wanted to say that A year ago, we created the Ridgewood Business Alliance and it was a very theoretical idea of what a SID, a Special Improvement District, should be, could do, could accomplish. And now, since June 1st, we've had our new executive director, Steve Grillo, who is here tonight. Now, I just, if you could stand up, Steve. I just wanted everyone to know who he is because he is full of ideas and great advice and already helping out the businesses in town. Now we are at a point where we get more granular and understand what we're dealing with. Steve's putting together a business census so that we know how many businesses we even have in this town. And so these were really good amendments. If you have questions, we can call Steve up. But I think this is going to be much more efficient now. And for the biggest issue here is we are removing the four nonprofits from the SID. But that is effective January 1st, 2027. Until then, the four nonprofits do have to pay their special assessments. But as I say, this becomes effective January 1st, 2027, and that will change at that point. So I vote yes.

So I want to thank Pam for your leadership on this. Steve, I think this is a wonderful thing. Happy to have you on board. I know we'll have the public hearing on this, so we'll probably speak more about it in September. I do 100% agree with removing the nonprofits. I would have preferred if we would have removed them for this year as well. I understand that wasn't possible. Democracy is messy, but this is a much better result than we were otherwise, so I too am a yes vote.

Winograd?

I'm going to vote yes, and I want to thank everybody because these sheets of papers took a lot of people to make these amendments, so thank you. And I just want to say two things. I, too, am grateful to see the 15 , also known as the nonprofits, removed, and I think I wanna remind everybody that as great as the CID is gonna be, now is the time to shop, dine, and stroll, and support our downtown, because we're gonna do whatever we can here, and I know the CID is gonna do whatever they can there, but there's never a better time to go down and support our downtown. Buy a book, go for a walk, have a cup of coffee, invite a friend, because we definitely need more love and affection downtown outside of this wonderful addition. So yes.

Yes, and I want to thank Pam because she has been tireless and relentless in getting this done, and there is so much detail involved in it. And I want to say how happy and pleased I am to have Steve Grillo leading this at this point for two reasons. One is that Pam doesn't have to do everything anymore. She's still doing a lot, but she's doing everything. I think that we got the best SID director in the state of New Jersey, and I am looking forward to all of his accomplishments. So, good to have you on board, Steve.

And if I may, Mayor, I just want to thank Frank for his comments, but Pam was really the leader on this. She did a tremendous amount of work in putting this together, and she was tireless with it, getting calls at all hours of the day, which was certainly welcome. but at the same time, Pam's effort was the one that made this happen.

Okay, let's move on. I move the first reading of ordinance 4116. I second the motion.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. White? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. Will the clerk please, so ordered, will the clerk please read ordinance 4116 by title.

An ordinance to create a new chapter to be entitled Altering Vehicles.

I move that ordinance 41416 be adopted on the first reading and September 2nd, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.

I second the motion.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. This is a very important provision with regard to all-terrain vehicles that are not allowed to be used on sidewalks, municipal-owned property, in the public street, in the right-of-way, in public parks, and they are just not licensed. for use on those areas. So please be aware, before you buy such a vehicle, that that's the rule, going to be the rule in Ridgewood, I hope. So yes. Whites.

Yes.

Winograd. Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4117. I second the motion.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Winograd. Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4117 by title.

An ordinance to amend section chapter 190. of the Court of the Village of Ridgewood, Land Use and Development, to rescind an ongoing moratorium and amend regulations related to recreational facilities for single-family, detached, or two-family residential uses.

I move that Ordinance 4117 be read, be adopted on the first reading, and that September 9th, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing.

I second the motion.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz?

Yes.

Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. I move the first reading of Ordinance 4118. Second.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4118 by title?

An ordinance to mention Chapter 145 of the Code of the Village of Ridwick Fees, Section 145-9, entitled Rental Fees for Use of Village Facilities, and Section 145-10, entitled Fees for Use of Fields and Park Pavilion.

I move that Ordinance 4118 be adopted on the first reading, and that September 9, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.

I second the motion. Mortimer. Before I vote, I'd like to thank David Wild from Parks and Rec, who did a tremendous amount of research and put it together in a format that was easy to understand. and really made this happen, and with that I say yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz?

Yes.

Winograd? I, too, want to vote yes, and I want to remind people that this is our first step to being able to book the historic Zabriskie-Shedler House. So if you have inquiries about that, please let our Parks Department know, and that's going to be pretty awesome. Yes. Okay.

Vaggianos?

Yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4119. Second.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. White?

I'm sorry. Yes. Sorry, it was my fault. I distracted him.

Winograd? Yes. I'm glad you asked.

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4119 by title?

An ordinance to rescind and repeal Chapter 212, Parks and Recreation Areas at Article 8, Leicester Stable, Section 212-30, Use of Village Facilities, Leicester Stable of the Code of the Village of Bridgewood.

I move that Ordinance 4119 be read, adopted on the first reading and that September 9th, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.

I second the motion.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. I move the first reading of Ordinance 4120. I second.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz?

Yes.

Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4120 by title?

An ordinance to amend Chapter 212 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood entitled Parks and Recreation Areas at Article 9, entitled Use of Village Facilities, Village Hall Meeting Rooms.

I move that Ordinance 4120 be adopted on the first reading and that September 9, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon.

I second the motion.

Mortimer.

So again, this is work that David Wild from Parks and Rec has put together. It's streamlined and it just went into the new fields policy as well. So it's easy to see from page to page of what group can do what, what their fees are, and just makes it more streamlined and more consistent. And with that, I say yes.

Perrin. Yes. Weitz.

Yes.

Wernigrad. Yes. And Baggianos.

Yes. I move the first reading of Ordinance 4-1-2-1. Second.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin. Yes. Weitz.

Yes.

Wernigrad. Yes. Baggianos.

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read Ordinance 4-1-2-1 by title.

An Ordinance to Men, Chapter 218 of the Code of the Village of Ridwood, entitled Peddling and Solicitings.

section 218-2 entitled definitions and to create a new section entitled no knock registry i move that ordinance 4121 be adopted on the first reading and september 9th 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon i second the motion mortimer

Can we sign up tonight? Not yet.

I say yes. Perrin? I just have a question. Why are some set for a public hearing on September 2nd and others for September 1st?

Because of the fact that the ones on September 2nd have to do with schools or have to do with parking or have to do altering vehicles. It's a public safety issue. Yeah. So that's why.

I see. Okay. Yes.

Whites. Yep. Winograd. Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4106 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. Second.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. Whites.

Yes.

Winograd. Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4106.

An ordinance to amend chapter 265 of the code of the village of Ridgewood vehicles and traffic. At section 265-42, reserved parking spaces.

The public hearing is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. Weitz. Yes. Winograd. Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes.

I move that ordinance 4106 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

I second the motion.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin.

Yes. Weitz.

Yes. Winograd.

Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4107 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. I second.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin. Yes. Weitz. Yes. Winograd. Yes. Vaggianos.

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4107.

An ordinance to amend chapter 265 of the code of the village of Ridgewood entitled vehicles and traffic.

The public hearing is now open.

Getting older. Denise Slimer, Ridgewood resident. Do we have an estimate of what the revenue loss would be by allowing free parking?

We're going to wait until the hearing is closed before we answer any questions.

Okay. That's it.

Okay. Anyone else? Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. Weitz. Yes. Winograd. Yes. And Baggiano's.

Yes. Keith. So we actually have free parking on the listed holidays. There was some question about whether it was the actual holiday or the observed holiday. This ordinance that the council is considering tonight, we'll make it the actual holiday. So if July 4th is on a Saturday, and the village observes the day off for our employees on July 3rd, July 3rd will be a regular paid day, July 4th will be the free day, as way of example. There's no loss of revenue, because we're not adding additional days.

It actually increases revenue, because it means now, for instance, July 3rd, which previously we would not have charged for, now we do. But it makes it simpler, increases more money. It's just a good idea all around.

And by way of discussion, those same holidays will align for the use of power tools and landscape equipment by commercial agencies. They will be on the actual holiday. So again, I use July 4th as an example. If July 4th falls on a Sunday, and the village observes by being closed July 5th, we don't want to tell someone that their contractor can't come to work on their addition or their landscaper can't come and work their property on July 5th.

It's just much more of a housekeeping issue, and it also prevents some of the problems we had, I believe, with Park Mobile this year as well. So that's it. I think it's net zero, the way you read it.

Correct. Okay. Siobhan?

Yep. I move that ordinance 4106 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

It's 4107.

That one?

Yes.

Yep.

And that one too. And number eight as well now.

I second the motion at 4107. Thank you.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. White? Yes. Winograd? Yes. And Vaginas?

Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4108 by title on second reading. and that the public hearing thereon be open. I second.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Baggianas?

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of Ordinance 4108?

An ordinance to mention after 222 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood, power tools, manual tools, motorized construction equipment, landscaping and yard maintenance equipment.

The public hearing is now open.

Denise Salima, Ridgewood resident. This is Power Tools, right? This is what we're talking about? Okay. So clarifying earlier, I know people need to, residents need to work on their homes on Saturdays. I get that. We're all busy during the week. I think this is just specifically on the federal holiday. So when people are residents, not just commercial, but when residents are mowing their lawn, blowing their leaves on a holiday, when people are trying to have dinner, sitting outside, barbecuing, whatever it is, it's really a disturbing noise. Even residential blowers are extremely loud these days because everybody has to have the turbo blower as well. So I know it's commercial, and I know people are thinking that, but even residents now, because of the larger lawns, have bigger lawnmowers. They're louder as well, because they're standing on top of the commercial lawnmower, trying to get their hold. You know, it's not electric, and people can't hear it. So I think originally we were all asking for it to be on every weekend and, you know, after hours. I think we're just saying, no, let's tailor it back and just do at least for the federal holidays for residents as well. Because it's it's super loud and it's it's very when people again are trying to picnic outside and have dinners It's loud and unfortunately our neighbors don't go. Oh, it's five o'clock You know, let me do it an hour earlier an hour later, and it's quite disturbing. So just again to reconsider Thank you.

Thank you anybody else? Seeing no one I move the public hearing be closed second second

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. I just want to note first that this also covers manual tools. So if you're hammering and it's really loud, this would also cover it. Yes. White.

Yes.

Winograd.

So I just want to say two things about these last two ordinances. These are simply housekeeping issues with date alignments. It wasn't a revisiting on the standard of quality of life. So the genesis of these actually goes to good communication through the manager's office. We had, I believe on the one that we just did before regarding federal parking, we probably had about seven or eight residents reach out And there was no modification, it was just a housekeeping aligning the systems. And this one was the same thing, that some of the federal holidays and the perception of a bank holiday as opposed to a federal holiday. So we really, while we're voting here tonight, it's really a housekeeping date alignment based upon input that that needed rather than addressing the issue of noise in general. So on that, I vote yes. And I want to just say this is, we're so grateful to the residents who proactively reach out to us. And this is just such a great example of good communication and a regular person writing us something so very reasonable and us modifying the code. So thank you to those residents. Thank you to the manager's office, to Carol, and everybody who made this happen. Yes.

Yeah, Denise, as Siobhan was pointing out, there's no change. This is just... which date this is gonna be enforced upon. This is the way it has always been. It was just a clarification of the dates. So there's no new restrictions, there's no less restrictions. It's the exact same restrictions that have always, or that have been in place for a very long time. And with that. And Mayor, if I may. Oh, go ahead. Wait, I gotta vote yes first. Okay. Yes.

Just an anecdotal story on this. we had sent out a reminder because we did receive some complaints about this ordinance and the dates that it's in effect. And during the 4th of July parade, I had a gentleman shout loudly at me as we were in the parade. And he said to me, that's the guy who told me that I can't mow my lawn on Sunday. So I just just food for thought for the council and as we this may come up at an ordinance working group that there are some residents who you know do do work odd hours or whatever their case may be. And they valued those times on the weekend in order to groom their lawn. So food for thought.

You know, Keith, I've always said dissent is the most patriotic thing you can do. So the fact that he's yelling at you at a July 4th... At the 4th of July on the 250th anniversary of the country.

So it was all very well... Well said.

And just so you know, that resident asked me who was responsible for that.

And you pointed at the car two back, right? I did.

So I still need a motion. I move that Ordinance 4108 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

I second the motion.

Mortimer?

Yes.

Perrin? Yes. White? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Zadjianos?

Yes. I move the Clerk read Ordinance 4109 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be open. Second.

Mortimer. Yes. Perrin. Yes. White. Yes. Winograd. Yes. Baggianos.

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of Ordinance 4109?

An ordinance to amend Chapter 249 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood entitled Streets and Sidewalks, exception 249-1, Ice and Snow Removal.

The public hearing is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second.

Mortimer.

Yes.

Perrin. Yes. White. Yes. Winograd.

Yes. Vagianos.

Yes.

I move that ordinance 4109 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

I second the motion. Mortimer. What I like most about this ordinance is that it specifies the width that has to be shoveled on sidewalks, and I think that's significant. So it'll help people walk down the sidewalk and not have to walk sideways or shimmy like a crab. So with that, I say yes.

Perrin. I'm pleased for the clarification between what you're supposed to do in the CBD and what you're supposed to do in the residential areas. And I assume, you know, it's 90 degrees. It's hard to think about this right now, but I hope that our communications before the next snowstorm reiterate these provisions. Yes, White.

Well, I would like to see Councilman Mortimer crab walk through a snowy, through snowdrifts. I too will vote yes on this.

Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos? Yes.

I move that ordinance 4109 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

Second the motion.

We just did this, but Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos? Yes.

And Mayor, just because I wasn't here, if I may, I'm sorry. Just because I wasn't here last week, this ordinance also helps our fire department tremendously. Chief Judge had input on the snow and ice removal ordinance. He worked closely with Heather to have some additional language put in there, because as hard as our fire department works, and they are a 24-7 operation down there at both houses on Glen, when we have a significant storm, and we had a number of them earlier this year, there's like 750. fire hydrants throughout the village. And even for our paid fire department to go out and clear those is a huge burden and could take weeks. So here we're asking the residents who have fire hydrants adjacent to their property to come and help our fire department so that we can keep the town as safe as possible if, God forbid, there is a fire. Should we take it one more time, just do it three times?

Let's go. I move the Clerk read Ordinance 4110 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be open. I second that.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Hang on, where are we? Belly parking? 4110. Okay, yes.

White?

Yes.

Winograd? Yes. Baggianos?

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of Ordinance 4110?

An ordinance to match Chapter 263 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood entitled Valet Parking Services at Sections 263-4 entitled Operating Requirements.

The public hearing is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. I second it.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos?

Yes. I move that Ordinance 4110 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law.

I second the motion.

Mortimer? Yes. Perrin? Yes. Weitz? Yes. Winograd? Yes. Vaggianos? Yes. Okay, resolutions. The following resolutions, number 26-236 through 26-254, with the exception of resolutions 26-242 through 26-246, which will be removed from the consent agenda and read in full, are to be adopted by a consent agenda with one vote by the village council. They will be read by title only. Award contract under state contract, IT needs of the Shetland property and IT software and hardware. Authorized shared services agreements, no plowing services with Bergen County. Authorized change order, professional services contracts, attorney for tax appeals for Valley Healthcare System properties in Ridgewood. Authorized execution of modification number three, Safe Routes to School project additional funding. Authorized property tax refund for block 2908, lot nine. Authorized grant application, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, recreational opportunities for individuals with disabilities, Roy Grant. Accept additional donations for community center improvements from Ridgewood Senior Citizens Housing Corporation, Ridgecrest Foundation, and Community Center of Ridgewood Foundation. Chapter 159, budget amendment minimum library tax. Resolutions number 20-269 and 20-330, COVID error resolutions pertaining to setting rental fees. for various outdoor recreational facilities. Amendment to renewal date of Maple Avenue Liquors, Plenary Retail Distribution Liquor License. Adopt Community Forestry Management Plan and authorize execution of documents. Declare various IT property surplus. Authorize execution of settlement agreement, Belvedere versus Biagi at Village of Ridgewood. Authorize shared services agreement special law enforcement officers, class three, with the Ridgewood Board of Education. May I have a motion?

So moved. Second.

So much good stuff in here, and I know you blew through it, but all the money we're getting from the sports teams to help. I will say though, I see the SLEO stuff in here. as well as the donations for the Senior Citizens Center downstairs. Amazing, great stuff. Really unsung work by a lot of great people to get a lot of great stuff done without burdening the taxpayers. And apologies, Pam, on that.

No problem. So let's say yes.

Yeah, I said yes.

Okay.

Yes.

What are we up to?

The resolution. Sorry, I threw you off.

No, we're voting on the consent agenda.

The consent agenda. Okay, yes. Yes. for the grad, Vaggianos, right?

Yes, and I have to take a moment to thank the Ridgewood Senior Citizens Housing Corporation, Ridge Forest Foundation, for adding so much more money, the $355,000, to make this senior center and community center a reality. I just can't say enough about them, so yes.

I'm sorry, I think I skipped Council Member Winograd, so...

I get to go last and have the last word. Let me say a few things. That's dangerous. Yes, of course. And thank you to everybody. And most especially, thank you to Heather. This is one heck of an agenda and a heck of a consent. So thank you.

Okay. So now I'll be reading Resolutions 26-242 through 26-246 in full. Whereas the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood has adopted regulations governing the acceptance of contributions, gifts, and donations made by individuals and or entities, which regulations have been codified in Chapter 127 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood. And whereas the Moon Soccer Club is committed to developing soccer players in northern New Jersey, including Ridgewood, by allowing each player to advance toward their maximum potential while developing lifelong passion for soccer. And whereas MSC wishes to support the continued development of the Shedlip property as a resource for community sports and recreation for all and has offered a donation of $150,000 for that purpose. And whereas the village of Ridgewood wishes to accept this donation to help fund the development of the field amenities of the Shedlip property. And whereas MSC does not have any applications pending before any village board or committee at this time. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood, County of Bergen State of New Jersey, that the Village of Ridgewood hereby gratefully accepts the donation of $150,000 for the scheduled property from the Maroon Soccer Club as follows. $40,000 for the scoreboard, $85,000 for field contributions, and $25,000 for soccer goals to be purchased by MSC once the field is complete. May I have a motion?

So moved.

Second. Okay. So...

Mortimer.

So I'd like to say that this and the next couple of ordinances really demonstrate what makes Ridgewood such an awesome place to live. We always hear about that it takes a community to be successful. And this is an example of the community pitching in and helping out. And it just makes me proud to be part of Ridgewood, a resident. It makes me super proud to be up here representing them. And because of all the good people that have made this happen and want to pitch in, I will proudly say yes.

Karen? Well, first, I would like to say the sports group's donations for development of the Shedler property are incredibly generous. And that's not just for maroon soccer, but the other subsequent ordinance resolutions that Heather's going to read. I really want to thank them sincerely for their big-hearted contributions. However, resolutions 26-242 through 246 state variously that the donations are for development of the field and field amenities. Many months ago, the council majority voted and bonded for developing the Shedler Field as an artificial turf facility, rather than as real grass. For all the reasons that I publicly opposed artificial turf then and since, I strenuously object to installation of artificial turf today. Therefore, regarding resolutions 26, 242 through 246, I must vote no. Okay.

Um, so, so many of these sports organizations, um, they already give so much to this community. These are moms and dads who volunteer their time to help kids and many of them stay on even after their kids get older. The fact that they're giving even more to this community and helping ensure that we're gonna have kids on that field by, you know, by, uh, early next year just to Frank's where it speaks to the wonderful nature of the town and village that we all call home. I proudly vote yes in favor of this and I cannot wait to see my son and lots of other people's sons and daughters in that field next year, so thank you to all the sports teams.

So clearly I want to say some days it's not easy being the fields rep, but I'm incredibly grateful to my partners there. I want to thank everybody who gave. This is the largest is from our own soccer club. I'm a big fan of public-private as is Evan, and this, in addition to allowing a very lingering project to continue, it's off into your tax dollars because this is a donation. I also just, before I vote yes, I just want to correct the record that Many years ago and many councils ago, the decision to turf the Shedler Park was made in 2017 on page 10 of the document. It was clearly listed as turf, and while this council majority has published it and pushed it forward, the idea that it was ever publicly introduced as grass is untrue. So I vote yes.

And Vaggianos.

Yes, I want to echo Frank and Evan's comments and Pam's comments for the generosity of the sports organizations, which, by the way, the sports organizations are the residents of our community. They made this something that not only their kids will enjoy, but generations of kids will enjoy. But I want to give a special shout-out and thank you to Siobhan, who personally went door-to-door to these organizations and would not leave until she got paid. And this was not an easy task, but she was obviously incredibly successful, so I want to thank her publicly, and I want to vote yes for this, because I think this is a great thing.

Okay, moving on. Whereas the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood has adopted regulations governing the acceptance of contributions, gifts, and donations made by individuals and or entities, which regulations have been codified in Chapter 127 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood. And whereas the Ridgewood Junior Football Association, RJFA, is committed to inspiring young athletes in an inclusive, instructional, and safe environment. And whereas RJFA wishes to support the continued development of the Shedlip property as a resource for community sports and recreation for all, and has offered a donation of $50,000 for that purpose. And whereas the Village of Ridgewood wishes to accept this donation with the understanding that the donated funds will be used for funding the development of the field and field amenities as a sheltered property, and whereas RJFA does not have any applications pending before any village board or committee at this time, now therefore be it resolved by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood, County of Bergen State of New Jersey, that the Village of Ridgewood hereby gratefully accepts the donation of $50,000 from Ridgewood Junior Football Association for field and field amenities at the shelter property with a portion of the donated funds to be used to line the field for football. Mayor, motion?

So moved.

Second.

Mortimer?

So I just want to tweak one thing that the mayor said. It's not that they're members of our community, the sports organizations. They are our community. And for that, I say yes.

Maren? For the same reasons I just mentioned, yes. for the ecology, for the environment, for human health, I say no. White?

Yes.

Wernigrad? This is going to be a little bit like the Oscars. So obviously, thank you very much to RJFA. We were really grateful that everybody understood that this is a multipurpose field shared by everyone. I'm very grateful. Not everybody who sits on the field is the president of the organization, so all kidding aside, This was not so hard. Everybody understands that this project's gone on too long. It's in the sports interest and the community's interest. So thank you to RJFA. $50,000 is a lot of money.

Yes. So that's it?

Yes.

Okay. And that ends?

Yes.

Okay. Whereas the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood has adopted regulations governing the acceptance of contributions, gifts, and donations made by individuals and or entities, which regulations have been codified... in Chapter 127 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood, and whereas the Ridgewood Baseball and Softball Association, RBSA, is dedicated to fostering the love of baseball and softball in Ridgewood by providing fun, educational, and competitive programs from preschool through high school, and whereas RBSA wishes to support the continued development of the Shetland property as a resource for community sports and recreation for all, and has offered a donation of $50,000 for that purpose, and whereas the Village of Ridgewood wishes to accept this donation to help fund the development of the field and field amenities at the Shedler property, and whereas RBSA does not have any applications pending before any village board or committee at this time. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the village council of the village of Ridgewood, County of Bergen, State of New Jersey, that the village of Ridgewood hereby gratefully accepts the donation of $50,000 from Ridgewood Baseball and Softball Association for the development of the field and field amenities, specifically for the backstop, fencing, dugouts, and benches. at the showroom property. May I have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Mortimer?

I just want to thank RBSA because every year they're always contributing something to one of our parks and it just like having sit on Parks and Rec and I'm always amazed at their generosity and this is them coming through again so thank you RBSA and I'll say yes.

Perrin?

No.

Weitz? Yes. Winograd?

Just to echo what Frank said, thank you to our BSA, but in addition to this this year, which is a big donation, they also help donate to other projects at Citizens and last year as well. So this is extremely generous and it is for us and our parks a double dip because they already gave to prior projects as well. So thank you very much. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Whereas the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood has adopted regulations governing the acceptance of contributions, gifts, and donations made by individuals and or entities, which regulations have been codified in Chapter 127 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood. And whereas the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association is dedicated to providing children in the village with the opportunity to learn and play lacrosse. Whereas RLA wishes to support the continued development of the Shedlow property as a resource for community sports and recreation for all. and has offered a donation of $10,000 for that purpose, whereas the village of Ridgewood wishes to accept this donation to help fund the development of the field, field amenities, and the purchase of lacrosse goals as a shuttle property, whereas RLA does not have any applications pending before any village board or committee at this time. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the village council of the village of Ridgewood County of Bergen State of New Jersey that the village of Ridgewood hereby gratefully accepts The donation of $10,000 from Ridgewood Lacrosse Association is follows, $5,000 for field and field amenities, and $5,000 for the purchase of lacrosse goals at the scheduled property.

So moved.

Second.

Mortimer.

I always think that lacrosse is such a cool but weird sport. And our association here in town does a great job of teaching kids on how to play it and nurture them all the way through. And so I'm really proud of them and they're part of our community. And so I proudly say yes.

Perrin. For the reasons I articulated earlier and what I read in the medical literature, I vote no. Whites?

I don't think La Crosse is weird, Frank. I vote yes.

Winograd. So again, just thank you to RLA. I do want to remind the public that this is their second donation of the year, and we were grateful for their partnership in this donation. They just earlier this year donated the scoreboard at Maple, and thank you to Richard La Crosse, and I want to double down. Definitely not weird.

And I think several members of this dais could be described as both cute and weird. And with that, I vote yes.

Whereas the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood has adopted regulations governing the acceptance of contributions, gifts, and donations made by individuals and or entities, which regulations have been codified in Chapter 127 of the Code of the Village of Ridgewood. And whereas the Ridgewood Adult Soccer Association, RASA, is dedicated to providing adults in the village with the opportunity to participate in organized recreational soccer. And whereas Rasa wishes to support the continued development of the Shedler property as a resource for community sports and recreation for all, and has offered a donation of $4,000 for that purpose. And whereas the village of Ridgewood wishes to accept this donation to help fund the development of the field and field amenities as a Shedler property. And whereas Rasa does not have any applications pending before any village board or committee at this time. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood, County of Bergen, State of New Jersey, that the Village of Ridgewood hereby gratefully accepts the donation of $4,000 from Ridgewood Adult Soccer Association for the development of field and field amenities at the Shedler property. I have a motion. So moved.

Second.

Mortimer.

So being on the PRC board for as long as I have, I watched this association come into being, that they're a relatively new organization. They had a kind of fight to get what they wanted, and I'm just thrilled to see that they see themselves as much of our community as they are, and that they want to contribute. And it's a great group of guys, and for that, I say yes.

Karen? For the reasons I articulated earlier, no. Weitz?

You know, I think this one really underscores the lack of fields that we have and the fact that groups like this have had to go to other towns, even though they pay taxes in Ridgewood. So the fact that we're able to now supply fields, access to fields for groups who aren't directly related to kids or younger folks, I think is wonderful and appreciate them stepping up and helping complete this. And so I proudly vote yes.

Winograd? So I just, obviously this is RASA, so it's going to be my chance. I too want to echo. Richard Adult Soccer were displaced out of district, and when I first took my seat, they very much wanted to become a recognized group, and they did that. And they have been... unbelievable to work with. They're primarily responsible for the watch parties that were so wildly successful. They partnered with other organizations. They've just been delightful. And this donation of $4,000 is big time for them. I do want to also say that for older adults in our district, they prefer to play on turf because unmaintained grass or grass that is maintained at our level, they don't like. They like the evenness. So this is wonderful for them. And again, welcome to their first donation. Thank you, Rasa, and thank you to everybody. It's just so nice to see a project that hasn't had so much support get this, which is so nice from these organizations. So definitely yes and thank you. Vaginos.

Yes. And so that brings us to the end of our agenda, so let's go back to public comment.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Boyd A. Loving, Ridgewood resident. With respect to the resolutions that were read in full regarding the donations from the sports organizations, if I recall correctly, at a previous meeting, there were some pledge conditions and terms, specifically from the Maroon Soccer Club. They included official MSC branding on the new scoreboard, MSC banners displayed along the facility fencing and safety netting, guaranteed perpetual use of the site for the annual MSC Father's Day tournament, and funding contingent on full project funding approval and finalized field scheduling agreement. As Ms. Lima mentioned, that's quite a mouthful. I noted when I looked in the transparency binder that none of these pledge terms and conditions are included in any of the written resolutions that you're going to sign. Were these pledged conditions and terms agreed upon or have we dispensed with them? Did you tell the sports groups that you cannot live with these terms and conditions? Additionally, on the agenda that is available to the public this evening with respect to the Junior Football Association, It indicates that they have a requirement that the field be lined for football. That also was not included in the written resolution. So I guess my question is, there are some pledge terms and conditions that were imposed by the donors. You have not included that in any of the agreements that are going to be signed. Are you accepting them, or have they just magically disappeared? If you said, we're not going to accept it, we'll take your money, but we're not going to agree to your terms and conditions. If you are going to agree to their terms and conditions, I would respectfully suggest that those terms and conditions be included in the written resolutions. To me, I'm not an attorney. Many of you are up there. They are not binding unless somebody has signed off on them. Somebody could say, oh, well, we're going to change that. If you're going to agree to something, have it in writing and have it signed by everyone who's supposed to sign it. Let's not make this a willy-nilly operation. Thank you so much.

Denise Slima, Ridgewood resident. I echo that also, and that's why I brought it up earlier, is what are we doing with some of those, you know, in perpetuity fees and things that they're asking for. It's either got to be included, but some of them I just don't even agree with, so just a follow-up on that. This presentation here, tax bill... When we did the presentation for the budget, it only had municipal and didn't have anything about the overall tax charge or change of the 4.78. I think just our learnings is if we included that last time in the friendly version budget presentation, then people would understand, because believe it or not, People don't understand that there's a municipal and county and school and library and there's, you know, multiple things that make up our taxes. So I think this breakdown is going to be very helpful for people. I would just ask that we're consistent. Are we calling it municipal tax changes or village tax changes on the following page? or local text changes, so just, you know, if we can just be consistent with the terminology, again, not to confuse people, because it's a complicated topic as well, just to be consistent on each page and the headings, you know, whether we're calling it local or village, you know, so just to be consistent on that piece would be helpful. Thank you.

Thank you, Denise. Anybody else?

Hello again, Michael Noe, Ridgewood resident. I asked an earlier question about the movie theater, and it was about the contingency plan and what happens if the grant is approved, however the Arts Council cannot raise that 20% that the mayor mentioned. Is the town still obligated to go forward with this, or what will happen?

I'm sorry, could you say that part again, the last part?

My earlier question was if the...

I got the first part of the question. I didn't hear it. You said, is there towns...

If they can't raise the 15, 20%.

Okay. The second part was if the... If the grant is approved, but the Arts Council is not able to raise the amount of money that they need to cover their 20% or whatever it is, What will happen? Will this project move forward or will that be the end of the project? And the second question I had is, if the project does not move forward, will the Arts Council be reimbursing the town for the money that they've laid out in advance for the option prices and the fees that they're paying to these specialists who are going to apply for the grant? Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Anybody else?

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Ann Loving, Ridgewood resident. A couple of questions or comments, I guess. Regarding Ordinance 4115, I fail to understand why our mayor, who is a property owner that actually owns several properties in the business district and stands to profit from the Special Improvement District, I fail to understand why the mayor is allowed to participate in this discussion and vote. It makes no sense to me. I object to that. Regarding Ordinance 4116, the way it's worded in the agenda that's available to us, it says all terrain vehicles are, wait, establishes a new chapter of the Code of the Village entitled All Terrain Vehicles to Regulate the Operation. In the book, instead of saying regulate, it says forbid the operation, and that's a, To me, that's a pretty major distinction. I think forbid is more accurate than regulate. Regarding the donations by the sports groups, I am also a member of this community, and I really appreciate when people donate things, and I appreciate their donations, so any implication that people who are opposed to artificial turf wouldn't support donations is incorrect. People donate trees, people donate benches, people donate lots of things, and that's what helps keep this community where I've lived more than half my life going, and I appreciate it. However, I sincerely appreciate the Deputy Mayor's steadfast opposition to the artificial turf. I really appreciate that. I fail to understand why we can't have grass. And the... Councilwoman Winograd loves to say that it was voted on as artificial turf many councils ago, but our own mayor specifically said, and this has been played over and over on social media, that grass is a no-brainer. Obviously, minds can be changed. Even tonight, there were things that you changed wording on, changed your ideas on, on different things from last week's work session. The fact that the majority, that is four of you, voted for artificial turf at Shedler doesn't mean that that couldn't be changed. It could be. Another thing I'd like to say is that the distinction that Councilman Mortimer made that the members of the sports community, that they are not members of our community, they are our community, they're members of our community. Not all of us are sports, you know, not all of us are on the sidelines. I once was, you know, years ago, but I'm not anymore. So it's a little bit of a weird distinction that you're making, that those are the only people that are members of our community. I didn't get why you said that. And I'm going to say one more thing unless I get cut off. And that is that lacrosse is not weird. It originated, I think, in 1100. It actually is native to this country. It was a Native American sport that originated centuries ago. So anyway, that's all I have to say.

Anybody else? And I will close public comment. I will just say, but it is cool.

I just want to say a couple things. And Heather, this is going to be sent. So the letters that we received from the organizations for the details should have been in last week's Sunshine Binders. They were all included in everyone's packet. We got an express letter from all the boards on their letterhead with all of their detailing. So... That was part of the workshop last week. There are public letters. I'm sure you can get them. And that was disclosed last week, all that content, to the full council and everybody up here. The second part is the recognized groups, Denise, and you should look at the fields policy, they don't pay fees right now. So there might be just, I'm not sure what the confusion is, but none of these organizations, they're recognized by our fields policy and they don't pay a fee to use the public land because they're residents. And with respect, before we start dissecting, I did say it's like the Oscars where people make a joke and it might not be funny to others or something. I just want to end this, that we've asked a lot of people to financially help at Shedlar. Some people donated furniture, some people have done things, some people don't want to participate. I'm grateful to every and all, anybody who donates to anything. So if Any one of us had an expression that was meant to be funny and not funny or said something and didn't. You know, we just want, I think the prevailing sentiment for me is that we want gratitude to anybody who helps us with any initiative and any donation. And that's it.

Yeah, I just want to say real quickly that when I say lacrosse is weird, I'm saying that endearingly. My oldest daughter plays lacrosse. I enjoy watching it. And when you see the history and how it is indigenous to our area, not just this country, but this area, it is really exciting. And having relatives in Sweden and explaining to them how to play lacrosse, they look at you like you've got three eyes. So I enjoy it, and I still think it's a little kooky, but I like it. Thank you.

So just a couple of things. So in terms of the terms from the sport donations, I mean, listen, to be clear, Boyd, If somebody wants to give us $85,000 for a billboard, and I don't have to tax the residents of Richard for that, and it's gonna say just the word maroons on it, I have no problem with those terms. Making that field available for the Father's Day tournament, I mean, again, we work with them every single year on it. We're not really giving them anything more than we already do. So I find none of the terms objectionable. I found them all to be fair and reasonable. Denise, on the overall tax, when Keith last presented or when we were presenting on our budget, we obviously didn't have the numbers from the school board, from the county. They were working through the process the same way we were. So there was no way that we could present the overall tax rate until well after the process. And this was, I think, the first time we really turned our attention back to an in-depth review of the budget, but there was no way to do an overall increase-decrease, which, again, is below 5%. Our piece was below 4%, I believe, this year. But there was no way that that could be done just based upon the timing, because the budgets were not out the last time we were doing our budget review. In terms of the contingency plan for the theater, I know, Paul, you'll probably speak to it. The contingency plan is simple. If we don't get the grant, we don't buy the theater. And then it stays in the hands of the bow tie folks. That's the contingency plan. In terms of the comment around Paul's participation on the SID, This has been discussed at length. As long as a statute or an ordinance is generally applicable, we're all allowed to vote on it. There was an ordinance a couple of weeks ago that affected religious institutions. Many of us are members of local religious institutions. None of us recused ourselves. Every year we vote on the budget, which talks about property taxes. All five of us pay property taxes in Ridgewood. We're allowed to vote on that. There's no difference here for Paul voting on the SID. I know that's been discussed with Matt. He agrees. And it's basically not an issue. Finally, I do just want to say something to my friend Pam. You know, to be very clear, reasonable people can disagree on turf. This council is a perfect example of that. And while I disagree with my friend Pam on this topic, I have deep respect for her views on this point. I have deep respect for advocacy on this point. And I look forward to continuing the conversation despite the fact that we have disagreements. But Pam, I appreciate you sticking to your guns and I appreciate you doing what you do.

Thank you. I would like to say that Paul is like any other commercial property owner. We have several on the board. We're required by statute to have property owners on the board. They have to be 51%. Voting in his situation is saying that he's going to pay the special assessment. So arguably, he's voting against his own self-interest. There's not a conflict there, as Evan has pointed out. He's like anyone of another group of property owners. So I don't see that there is a conflict.

If I may, this issue has been raised before this council before. I have opined, based upon the local public ethics law, that it does not preclude involvement of the mayor in this circumstance. He's being treated similarly to any other property owner in the central business district or that may qualify for this bid. And as a result, there isn't any ethical concern from the standpoint of the state. So I just want to make that clear for everybody who's listening. This has been dealt with before, and we've opined on it before.

Thank you, everyone. Michael, you raised a very interesting question. I'm 99% sure I know the answer, but I'm going to check it to make sure that I am absolutely clear, and I will have that answer for you at the next council meeting.

Mayor, through you, if I may. By all means. First, I just want to clarify to Councilman White, I think you meant scoreboard, not billboard, just to be clear.

Very nice catch. There will be no billboards, no advertising rights, I'm aware of.

Not to be confused with the billboard that was turned down by the Board of Adjustment. I don't comment on that either. We're talking a scoreboard that tells how many goals each team has delivered in a game. To Mrs. Lima, just to drill down a little bit more on the budget presentation and to piggyback off of the comments from Councilman White's, the information that you're asking for to be included in the initial budget presentation is not available at that time and Just to give some perspective we introduced our budget which was the night of the budget presentation on March 20th The school board did not vote on their budget until May the 4th And the county did not adopt their budget until May 29th, so we don't have that information we can only go by the Budget that we control here, which the terminology is interchangeable municipal or village The chart that's in tonight's presentation is actually something that's developed up in the finance office and is also shared with the vision of local government services and trend that's the terminology they use I actually changed it deliberately tonight to village and because I wanted it to be clear of what the council has control and jurisdiction over versus what the county commissioners and the county executive have control over at the county and what the Board of Education and their members have control of at the Ridgewood Public Schools. So I hope that's clear, but we don't have the same information that we have tonight back at budget time. I do think, and the councilman mentioned this earlier too, these are verifiable numbers. that were shared tonight in this presentation. And I'm just back from vacation on Monday. I had some folks coming in, some department heads coming in asking me questions about the budget and this and that. Some of the information that is out online is just not factual. And that's why I felt it was important tonight to share the actual numbers, not just for the village, but for the entire effect of all the municipal budgets and all the additional assessments for open space and the public library and such. And I hope that that was clear tonight. And we will work with our communications team to share this information with the greater community so they can see the numbers that are actually in place and how it affects their taxes in 2026.

Thank you, Mayor. Anybody else? We will entertain a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Let's go.

All right.